Mr. Renè Maheu, Director General, UNESCO, donated a cup for the occasion; thus were the Inter Agency Games born, and the same spirit has remained, although the name was not adopted until 1972.

However, the principle of alternating the venue of the Games began right from the start, and five events were listed on the programme - chess, football, table tennis, tennis and men's volleyball.

In 1971, the United Nations, Geneva, took an important step in organizing the first multi-institutional competition, at Champery (Valais). Ten organizations of the United Nations family with offices in Europe took part.

FAO ( Food and Agricultural Organization) then hosted the United Nations Inter Agency Games in Rome in 1972 and the "mini Olympic Games" were on their way. A Control Commission was also created to prepare the rules and regulations.

In 1973, the IAEA was the host at Vienna with seven organizations participating represented by 350 competitors.

In 1984 in Senigallia, Italy, the number of official disciplines was increased to eight ( adding athletics, pètanque and women's volleyball). In 1985, for the first time, a team representing United Nations New York participated at the Games.

In 1998, the Games saw the participation of about 1500 International staff not only coming from the European international organizations but also from New York and Nairobi.

Organizational problems forced UNIDO - Vienna to cancel the 1999 Games.

The 2000 games was organized by UNESCO in France (Aix-les-Bains) from 4-8 May hosting over 1,300 participants and supporters from the European international organizations and from Nairobi, New York and Somalia.

The 2001 Inter Agency Games was organized by ITU-Geneva and held in Alicante- Spain from 26-30 April 2001 hosting over 1,400 participants and supporters. A new record!

The 30th Inter Agency Games were jointly hosted by the IAEA and CTBTO and were held from 1 to 5 May 2002 in Antalya, Turkey.

Security reasons forced IAEA organizers to cancel the 2003 games which to be held at Sousse, Tunisia.